The most
accurate laboratory measurements yet made of magnetic fields trapped in grains
within a primitive meteorite are providing important clues to how the early
solar system evolved. The measurements point to shock waves traveling through
the cloud of dusty gas around the newborn Sun as a major factor in solar system
formation. The results appear in a paper published Nov. 13 in the journal
Science. The lead author is graduate student Roger Fu of MIT, working under
Benjamin Weiss; Steve Desch of Arizona State University's School of Earth and
Space Exploration is a co-author of the paper."The measurements made by Fu
and Weiss are astounding and unprecedented," says Desch. "Not only
have they measured tiny magnetic fields thousands of times weaker than a
compass feels, they have mapped the magnetic fields' variation recorded by the
meteorite, millimeter by millimeter."

Construction
debris

It may
seem all but impossible to determine how the solar system formed, given it
happened about 4.5 billion years ago. But making the solar system was a messy
process, leaving lots of construction debris behind for scientists to
study.Among the most useful pieces of debris are the oldest, most primitive and
least altered type of meteorites, called the chondrites (KON-drites). Chondrite
meteorites are pieces of asteroids, broken off by collisions, that have
remained relatively unmodified since they formed at the birth of the solar
system. They are built mostly of small stony grains, called chondrules, barely
a millimeter in diameter.Chondrules themselves formed through quick melting
events in the dusty gas cloud -- the solar nebula -- that surrounded the young
sun. Patches of the solar nebula must have been heated above the melting point
of rock for hours to days. Dustballs caught in these events made droplets of
molten rock, which then cooled and crystallized into chondrules.

Tiny
magnets

As
chondrules cooled, iron-bearing minerals within them became magnetized like
bits on a hard drive by the local magnetic field in the gas. These magnetic
fields are preserved in the chondrules even down to the present day.The
chondrule grains whose magnetic fields were mapped in the new study came from a
meteorite named Semarkona, after the place in India where it fell in 1940. It
weighed 691 grams, or about a pound and a half.The scientists focused
specifically on the embedded magnetic fields captured by "dusty"
olivine grains that contain abundant iron-bearing minerals. These had a
magnetic field of about 54 microtesla, similar to the magnetic field at Earth's
surface, which ranges from 25 to 65 microtesla.Coincidentally, many previous
measurements of meteorites also implied similar field strengths. But it is now
understood that those measurements detected magnetic minerals contaminated by
Earth's magnetic field, or even from hand magnets used by meteorite
collectors."The new experiments," Desch says, "probe magnetic minerals
in chondrules never measured before. They also show that each chondrule is
magnetized like a little bar magnet, but with 'north' pointing in random
directions."

This
shows, he says, they became magnetized before they were built into the
meteorite, and not while sitting on Earth's surface.

Shocks
and more shocks

"My
modeling for the heating events shows that shock waves passing through the
solar nebula is what melted most chondrules," Desch explains. Depending on
the strength and size of the shock wave, the background magnetic field could be
amplified by up to 30 times.He says, "Given the measured magnetic field
strength of about 54 microtesla, this shows the background field in the nebula
was probably in the range of 5 to 50 microtesla."There are other ideas for
how chondrules might have formed, some involving magnetic flares above the
solar nebula, or passage through the sun's magnetic field. But those mechanisms
require stronger magnetic fields than what is measured in the Semarkona
samples.This reinforces the idea that shocks melted the chondrules in the solar
nebula at about the location of today's asteroid belt, which lies some two to
four times farther from the sun than Earth now orbits.Desch says, "This is
the first really accurate and reliable measurement of the magnetic field in the
gas from which our planets formed."

Scientists
at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified weak spots on the
surface of Ebola virus that are targeted by the antibodies in ZMapp, the
experimental drug cocktail administered to several patients during the recent
Ebola outbreak. The study, led by TSRI structural biologists Andrew Ward and
Erica Ollmann Saphire and published online ahead of print this week by the
journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a revealing
3-D picture of how the ZMapp antibodies bind to Ebola virus."The
structural images of Ebola virus are like enemy reconnaissance," said
Saphire. "They tell us exactly where to target antibodies or
drugs."Ward said, "Now that we know how ZMapp targets Ebola, we can
compare all newly discovered anti-Ebola antibodies as we try to formulate an
even better immunotherapeutic cocktail."

How
Antibodies Fight Back

ZMapp,
developed by San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, was used in August to
treat several patients in the ongoing Ebola virus outbreak. Although five of
the seven patients who received ZMapp survived, researchers cannot yet say for
sure whether ZMapp made a difference in their recoveries.

The new
study explains why ZMapp could have been effective. Using an imaging technique
called electron microscopy, researchers found that two of the ZMapp antibodies
bind near the base of virus, appearing to prevent the virus from entering
cells. A third antibody binds near the top of the virus, possibly acting as a
beacon to call the body's immune system to the site of infection.The new
picture of ZMapp reveals the two antibodies that bind near the base of the
virus seem to be competing for the same site. While this appears to be a
particularly vulnerable spot on Ebola virus's surface as identified in previous
studies, one question now is whether future cocktails should continue to use
two antibodies to target this site or try to attack the virus from a third
angle.

"This
information helps guide decisions about how to formulate these life-saving
therapies," said C. Daniel Murin, a graduate student in the labs of Ward
and Saphire and first author of the new study. "Instead of including two
different antibodies that do the same thing, why not use twice as much of the
more effective one instead? Or include a third antibody against a different
site to stop the virus a third way?"Luckily, while the Ebola virus has
undergone more than 300 genetic changes in the current outbreak (according to
research published in the journal Science in August), the new study indicates
the sites where the ZMapp antibodies bind have been unaffected so far.

A Global
Search for Treatments

The new
research is part of the National Institutes of Health-funded Viral Hemorrhagic
Fever Immunotherapeutic Consortium, which is testing antibodies from 25
laboratories around the world with the goal of developing the best cocktail for
neutralizing Ebola virus and other closely related hemorrhagic fever
viruses.The next step for the consortium is to study the new antibodies from
human survivors of the current outbreak. Saphire, who leads the consortium,
hopes the group can also develop a back-up cocktail in case the virus mutates
and becomes resistant to treatment.ZMapp is expected to go into clinical trials
in early 2015. The antibodies in the cocktail were originally isolated by the
Public Health Agency of Canada and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of
Infectious Disease.

3)
Physicists discover new subatomic particles:

hysicist
in the College of Arts and Sciences is the lead contributor to the discovery of
two never-before-seen baryonic particles. The finding, which is the subject of
a forthcoming article in Physical Review Letters (American Physical Society,
2014), is expected to have a major impact on the study of quark dynamics.Steven
Blusk, associate professor of physics, has identified particles known as Xi_b'-
and Xi_b*-. Although the particles had been predicted to exist, nobody had seen
them until now. The discovery is part of his ongoing work at the Large Hadron
Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.

"The
particles we've discovered are quite unique," says Blusk, a leader in
experimental high-energy particle physics. "Each one contains a beauty [b]
quark, a strange [s] quark and a down [d] quark."A baryon is a subatomic
particle made up of three quarks, bound together by strong force. Two other
familiar baryons, the proton and neutron, combine with the electron to form all
the known elements of the periodic table."The building blocks of all known
things, including cars, planets, stars and people, are quarks and electrons,
which are tied together by strong, electromagnetic forces," Blusk says.

Unique to
each newly discovered particle is its mass, which is approximately six times
larger than that of the proton. Blusk attributes its size to the presence of a
heavyweight b quark and to the particle's angular momentum -- a property known
as "spin."In the Xi_b'- state, the spins of the two lighter quarks
point in opposite directions; in the Xi_b*- state, they are aligned. The
difference is what makes the Xi_b*- a little heavier."The Xi_b'- is close
in mass to the sum of the masses of its decay products. If it had been just a
little lighter, we wouldn't have seen it at all," Blusk adds.Much of
Blusk's work draws on the theory of Quantum Chromodynamics, which describes the
interaction of quarks. As a result, he and his colleagues have studied the
masses of both particles, along with their relative production rates, widths
and decays."This is a very exciting result," Blusk adds. "Thanks
to LHCb's excellent hadron identification, which is unique among LHC
experiments, we've been able to separate a clean, strong signal from the
background. It demonstrates, once again, both the sensitivity and precision of
the LHCb detector."Blusk is part of a team of Syracuse researchers, led by
Distinguished Professor of Physics Sheldon Stone, working at CERN, which is the
world's leading laboratory for particle physics. There, they have been involved
with the LHCb experiment, which seeks to identify new forces and particles, in
addition to those already known and codified in the Standard Model, a theory
describing the physical makeup of the visible Universe.

"Fourteen
billion years ago, the Universe began with a bang, and matter and anti-matter
were formed," Stone says. "But just one second after the Big Bang,
anti-matter all but disappeared. … The LHCb experiment is designed to find out
what really happened after the Big Bang that has allowed matter to survive and
build the Universe we inhabit today."

Researcher has found that one of the world's
most prolific bacteria manages to afflict humans, animals and even plants by
way of a mechanism not before seen in any infectious microorganism -- a sense
of touch. This unique ability helps make the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa
ubiquitous, but it also might leave these antibiotic-resistant organisms
vulnerable to a new form of treatment.

Pseudomonas
is the first pathogen found to initiate infection after merely attaching to the
surface of a host, Princeton University and Dartmouth College researchers
report in the journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This
mechanism means that the bacteria, unlike most pathogens, do not rely on a
chemical signal specific to any one host, and just have to make contact with
any organism that's ripe for infection.The researchers found, however, that the
bacteria could not infect another organism when a protein on their surface
known as PilY1 was disabled. This suggests a possible treatment that, instead
of attempting to kill the pathogen, targets the bacteria's own mechanisms for
infection.

Corresponding
author Zemer Gitai, a Princeton associate professor of molecular biology,
explained that the majority of bacteria, viruses and other disease-causing
agents depend on "taste," as in they respond to chemical signals
unique to the hosts with which they typically co-evolved. Pseudomonas, however,
through their sense of touch, are able to thrive on humans, plants, animals,
numerous human-made surfaces, and in water and soil. They can cause potentially
fatal organ infections in humans, and are the culprit in many hospital-acquired
illnesses such as sepsis. The bacteria are largely unfazed by
antibiotics."Pseudomonas' ability to infect anything was known before.
What was not known was how it's able to detect so many types of hosts," Gitai
said. "That's the key piece of this research -- by using this sense of
touch, as opposed to taste, Pseudomonas can equally identify any kind of
suitable host and initiate infection in an attempt to kill it."

The
researchers found that only two conditions must be satisfied for Pseudomonas to
launch an infection: Surface attachment and "quorum sensing," a
common bacterial mechanism wherein the organisms can detect that a large
concentration of their kind is present. The researchers focused on the surface-attachment
cue because it truly sets Pseudomonas apart, said Gitai, who worked with first
author Albert Siryaporn, a postdoctoral researcher in Gitai's group; George
O'Toole, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Dartmouth; and Sherry
Kuchma, a senior scientist in O'Toole's laboratory.To demonstrate the
bacteria's wide-ranging lethality, Siryaporn infected ivy cells with the
bacteria then introduced amoebas to the same sample; Pseudomonas immediately
detected and quickly overwhelmed the single-celled animals. "The bacteria
don't know what kind of host it's sitting on," Siryaporn said. "All
they know is that they're on something, so they're on the offensive. It doesn't
draw a distinction between one host or another."When Siryaporn deleted the
protein PilY1 from the bacteria's surface, however, the bacteria lost their
ability to infect and thus kill the test host, an amoeba. "We believe that
this protein is the sensor of surfaces," Siryaporn said. "When we
deleted the protein, the bacteria were still on a surface, but they didn't know
they were on a surface, so they never initiated virulence."Because PilY1
is on a Pseudomonas bacterium's surface and required for virulence, it presents
a comprehensive and easily accessible target for developing drugs to treat
Pseudomonas infection, Gitai said. Many drugs are developed to target
components in a pathogen's more protected interior, he said.

Kerwyn
Huang, a Stanford University assistant professor of bioengineering, said that
the research is an important demonstration of an emerging approach to treating
pathogens -- by disabling rather than killing them.

"This
work indicates that the PilY1 sensor is a sort of lynchpin for the entire
virulence response, opening the door to therapeutic design that specifically
disrupts the mechanical cues for activating virulence," said Huang, who is
familiar with the research but had no role in it."This is a key example of
what I think will become the paradigm in antivirals and antimicrobials in the
future -- that trying to kill the microbes is not necessarily the best strategy
for dealing with an infection," Huang said. "[The researchers']
discovery of the molecular factor that detects the mechanical cues is critical
for designing such compounds."Targeting proteins such as PilY1 offers an avenue
for combating the growing problem of antibiotic resistance among bacteria,
Gitai said. Disabling the protein in Pseudomonas did not hinder the bacteria's
ability to multiply, only to infect.

Antibiotic
resistance results when a drug kills all of its target organisms, but leaves
behind bacteria that developed a resistance to the drug. These mutants,
previously in the minority, multiply at an astounding rate -- doubling their
numbers roughly every 30 minutes -- and become the dominant strain of pathogen,
Gitai said. If bacteria had their ability to infect disabled, but were not
killed, the mutant organisms would be unlikely to take over, he said."I'm
very optimistic that we can use drugs that target PilY1 to inhibit the whole
virulence process instead of killing off bacteria piecemeal," Gitai said.
"This could be a whole new strategy. Really what people should be doing is
screening drugs that inhibit virulence but preserve growth. This protein
presents a possible route by which to do that."PilY1 also is found in
other bacteria with a range of hosts, Gitai said, including Neisseria
gonorrhoeae or the large bacteria genus Burkholderia, which, respectively,
cause gonorrhea in humans and are, along with Pseudomonas, a leading cause of
lung infection in people with cystic fibrosis. It is possible that PilY1 has a
similar role in detecting surfaces and initiating infection for these other
bacteria, and thus could be a treatment target.Frederick Ausubel, a professor
of genetics at Harvard Medical School, said that the research could help
explain how opportunistic pathogens are able to infect multiple types of hosts.
Recent research has revealed a lot about how bacteria initiate an infection,
particularly via quorum sensing and chemical signals, but the question about
how that's done across a spectrum of unrelated hosts has remained unanswered,
said Ausubel, who is familiar with the research but had no role in it.

"A
broad host-range pathogen such as Pseudomonas cannot rely solely on chemical
cues to alert it to the presence of a suitable host," Ausubel said.

"It
makes sense that Pseudomonas would use surface attachment as one of the major
inputs to activating virulence, especially if attachment to surfaces in general
rather than to a particular surface is the signal," he said. "There
is probably an advantage to activating virulence only when attached to a host
cell, and it is certainly possible that other broad host-range opportunistic
pathogens utilize a similar strategy."

5) Thin
film produces new chemistry in 'nanoreactor':

Physicists
at the University of Groningen led by Professor of Functional Nanomaterials
Beatriz Noheda have discovered a new manganese compound that is produced by
tension in the crystal structure of terbium manganese oxide. The technique they
used to create this new material could open the way to new nanoscale circuits.
Their findings were published on 20 November 2014 in the journal Nature.The
researchers grew a very thin layer (no more than a few dozen atoms thick) of
the terbium manganese oxide crystal on a thicker base layer of strontium
titanium oxide. This base layer affects the growth of the thin layer. When
pieces of growing crystal meet, an interface or 'domain wall' develops, and the
crystal structure comes under tensile stress in this wall.

Nanoreactor

Until a
few years ago, materials scientists when creating very thin layers tried to
prevent domain walls from occurring because of this tensile stress. 'Domain
walls were seen as contamination', says Noheda. Then it became clear that the
tension in the crystal structure actually invested the material with new
properties, and, as has now become apparent, the domain wall can become a
nanoscale chemical reactor.

Walls

The
Groningen researchers have gained a lot of expertise in controlling how many
domain walls develop. The composition of the base layer affects this, for
instance, and the thinner the crystal layer, the greater the number of walls
that occur.'Alongside controlling how many walls develop, a further
considerable challenge was to analyse exactly what happens in a wall, as this
is generally only one atom thick', says Noheda. One way to analyse the material
in the wall is to compare samples comprising different numbers of walls. The
researchers saw that the more walls there were, the more magnetic the material
was. 'Direct observation of a magnetic field is not yet possible on the atomic
scale, particularly not in an isolator', says Noheda.

Zigzag
line

An
advanced atomic-resolution chemical analysis was used to show that the
composition of the crystal in the walls had changed: in specific locations a
manganese atom had taken the place of a larger terbium atom. The terbium atom
forms a kind of zigzag line in the crystal structure. Two opposing zigzags meet
in the domain wall, thus causing some of the terbium atoms to come into very
close proximity. 'This creates significant tension, the terbium atom disappears
from the crystal, and a smaller manganese atom takes its place', explains
Noheda.

New
chemistry

In
contrast to the normal crystal, this extra manganese makes the wall magnetic.
Professor of Theoretical Physics Maxim Mostovoy of the University of Groningen
modelled the magnetism, and his results match the results of the experiment: 'A
bond that has not yet been described occurs between five manganese atoms. We
therefore see new chemistry in the domain wall.' This makes the domain wall a
kind of nanoscale chemical reactor. 'And we suspect that this kind of new bond
will occur in all crystals with this zigzag structure.'Noheda hopes in further
research to generate walls with the potential to form circuits. Minute circuits
of only a few atoms in size could then develop. 'But I also hope that chemists
will set to work on these nanoreactors.'

ZIAM

Beatriz
Noheda and Maxim Mostovoy both work at the Zernike Institute for Advanced
Materials (ZIAM), part of the University of Groningen's Faculty of Mathematics
and Natural Sciences. The ZIAM is a top national research institute.Noheda's
research is funded by NanoNextNl, a consortium of 130 partners including universities,
members of the business community and the authorities who collaborate in the
field of microtechnology and nanotechnology, and by FOM, the Foundation for
Fundamental Research on Matter.

Against
all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that
she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol
is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the
unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one
else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of
District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne
Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the
most talked about movies of the year.

In THE
IMITATION GAME, Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Alan Turing, the genius British
mathematician, logician, cryptologist and computer scientist who led the charge
to crack the German Enigma Code that helped the Allies win WWII. Turing went on
to assist with the development of computers at the University of Manchester
after the war, but was prosecuted by the UK government in 1952 for homosexual acts
which the country deemed illegal

Five
friends set out to a cabin in the woods for a fun weekend getaway—that is,
until extraterrestrial visitors turn it into a fight for their lives. The group
is pulled from their reverie when a flickering object crashes deep in the
woods. As they investigate, the friends stumble across an alien spacecraft, and
its inhabitants have not arrived in peace.

A police
chase after a deranged ice cream truck has captivated the attention of the
greater Los Angeles area. Dozens of fame—obsessed teens flock to the streets
with their video cameras and camera phones, hell—bent on capturing the next
viral video. But there is something far more sinister occurring in the streets
of L.A. than a simple police chase. A resounding effect is created onto all
those obsessed with capturing salacious footage for no other purpose than to
amuse or titillate. Soon the discovery becomes that they themselves are the
stars of the next video, one where they face their own death.

In the
Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the
townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.

Political
News This Week:

1) Rampal
owned luxurious property, arms and ammunition:

A huge
cache of arms, a private swimming pool, state-of-the-art elevators and 24 AC
rooms with one having a massage bed were found inside the highly-fortified
Satlok Ashram from where 'godman' Rampal was ‘smoked out’The shocking details
came to the fore during the police operation to nab the ‘mouse’ -- the code
name used for the controversial 63-year-old engineer-turned-preacher, who was
arrested on Wednesday in a murder case.The cops came across a number of
almirahs. From the two almirahs police recovered three .32 bore revolvers, 19
air guns, two double barrel12 bore rifles, two .315 bore rifles, 28 cartridges
of .32 bore, 50 cartridges of 12 bore and 25 cartridges of .315 bore.

Most of
the weapons were kept in bags and almirahs in two secret rooms. In the centre
of the Ashram, Rampal had an elevated structure on which he had his seat. The
ammunition was stored under the structure so that no one could suspect the
location.The team also found helmets and sticks and 20 pairs of black dresses
and two tanks containing 800 litres of diesel and catapult. The three persons
found hiding in the Ashram have been identified as Yaadram, resident of Jakhli,
district Badaun, UP, Ravi, resident of Kharati, Chhattisgarh, and Ramesh,
resident of Dhani Sillanwali, district Bhiwani in Haryana.The ashram, built
like a fortress, is surrounded by high walls with watchtowers. A special room
was set up within the Ashram for his securitymen comprising private commandos. The sprawling complex was found to be under
constant surveillance with CCTV cameras installed at several key-points to keep
a tab on the movements of devotees, who largely came from low-income strata.

At the
entrance of Ashram, spread over 12 acres adjacent to Chandigarh-Hissar national
highway in Hissar district of Haryana, police found metal detectors to check
the devotees.The AC rooms in the Ashram, which could be compared to a starred
hotel or a farm house, had attached bathrooms fitted with top-of-the line fixtures.
One of the rooms had a massage bed, while another a treadmill.The 'satsang'
(prayer) hall in the complex, which came up in four years, is the centerpiece
of the Ashram having a sitting capacity for 50,000 people. ampal used to sit in
a hydraulic chair to deliver sermons from a bullet proof enclosure as his
private militia stood guard.

Trinamool
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Srinjoy Bose was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation
on Friday after a marathon interrogation for five hours for his alleged
involvement in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.The central agency also
quizzed West Bengal Textiles Minister Shyamapada Mukherjee in connection with
sale of shares of a cement plant to Saradha Group chief Sudipto Sen, and former
Trinamool Congress MP Somen Mitra during the day.

CBI
sources said that Bose would be produced before the Alipore court on
Saturday.Bose, owner of a Bengali daily and who was asked to appear before the
CBI officials, deposed before the sleuths in the morning and was interrogated
for his business dealings with Sen.

A CBI
spokesperson said that Bose was arrested "for his prima facie involvement
in the Saradha realty case and for allegations of criminal conspiracy,
misappropriation of funds and deriving undue financial benefits".All the
three Trinamool leaders made consecutive appearances during the day.Bose is
among eight prominent persons arrested by CBI in the Saradha case.

The
others arrested are Sen, his aide Debjani Mukherjee, suspended Trinamool MP
Kunal Ghosh, ex-West Bengal Police DG Rajat Majumdar, Assamese singer Sadananda
Gogoi, East Bengal club official Debabrata Sarkar and businessman Sandhir
Agarwal, all of whom have been named in a charge sheet by the investigating
agency.

Meanwhile,
state Transport Minister Madan Mitra, who had been also served summons, was
being admitted to state-run SSKM hospital after a brief stay at the private
clinic in the city complaining of breathlessness.The hospital had also formed a
medical board to diagnose Mitra's 'medical complications'.On arriving at the
CBI office, Bose told reporters that he had come as a witness and that he was
not worried because he did not commit anything wrong.

3)
Villagers celebrate homecoming of fishermen released from Sri Lanka:

Joyous
and emotional scenes were witnessed at Thanachimadam village in Tamil Nadu
where celebrations broke out on the arrival of 5 fishermen, who had escaped the
gallows after spending 3 years in a Sri Lankan prison, with families and
friends greeting them.The normally sleepy fishing village in Ramanathapuram
district wore a festive mood since morning, as it awaited the return of these
fishermen.Celebrations erupted soon after their arrival as they were garlanded,
offered sweets and crackers were burst.

It looked
as if the entire village, predominantly fishermen families, had gathered for
the well-organised reception for them near the Parish Church, where even the
school children in their uniforms were seated on the ground facing the stage
put up for the occasion.Claps and whistles filled the air, when children of
these fishermen met their fathers on the stage and sat on their lap after 3
years.

State
Fisheries Minister K A Jayabal, Sports and Youth Development Minister S
Sundarraj, Fisheries Secretary S Vijayakumar and Ramanathapuram MP Anwar Raja
were present.Fishermen and fishing hamlet leaders hugged and offered shawls to
the 5 fishermen, who were visibly tired as they posed for the media. They had
flown from Colombo to Delhi and then to Chennai, from where they arrived by
road.Fishing community leaders and others acknowledged the efforts of the
central and state governments in securing the release of these fishermen.
However, none of the state ministers mentioned the diplomatic efforts taken by
the Centre and instead credited party chief and former Chief Minister
Jayalalithaa.The fishermen were apprehended in November 2011 and sentenced to
death by the Colombo High Court on October 30 for alleged drug trafficking.
Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa pardoned them after Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi spoke to him on the issue and took efforts through diplomatic
channels, following protests and appeals for their release from political
parties in Tamil Nadu.

4)
Mulayam's b'day shindig funded by Taliban, Dawood, quips Azam:

Uttar
Pradesh’s powerful minister Azam Khan will host a gala event on the occasion of
Samajwadi Party founder and president Mulayam Singh Yadav’s 75th birthday in
Rampur on Friday and Saturday.The highlight of the event is a 75-feet long
U-shaped cake made in New Delhi.

Accompanied
by his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam will fly to Rampur on Friday
afternoon in a state aircraft from Lucknow. After landing at the CRPF airstrip,
he will take a 12- km ride through the town in an exquisite buggy specially
imported by Azam Khan from the UK. The buggy ride will culminate at the Jauhar
University in Rampur.

As the
celebrations were set in motion after Mulayam's arrival here, Azam's comments
over the funding fuelled a controversy.

When
questioned about the funding for the grand event, an irate Khan, who has left
no stone unturned to make the celebrations successful, said money had come from
the Taliban and fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim."Why does it matter where
the money for celebrations is coming from? Some have come from Taliban, some
from Abu Salem, some from Dawood, some from terrorists...," he said in an
apparent sarcastic response.

Azam had
also kicked up a row on Thursday when he suggested that the Taj Mahal, the
monument of love in Agra, and the income generated through it should be handed
over to the Wakf Board contending that the monument is a mausoleum."Taj
Mahal is a mausoleum and each mausoleum is 'Waqf' and comes under the Sunni
Central Waqf Board," he had said.

Local
schools in Rampur have been closed for two days to facilitate the birthday
celebrations.The local administration has sought a special fleet of 25 cars for
VIP movement on the two days. All big hotels and guest houses in town have been
blocked by the district administration to accommodate MPs and MLAs who are
expected to join the celebrations.The evening will be marked by special
performances by the famous Sabri brothers and Hans Raj Hans at a makeshift
auditorium at Jauhar University. The series of cultural functions will be
followed by the cake cutting ceremony at the stroke of midnight.

5) J-K
polls: Triangular contest in Ganderbal:

The
ruling National Conference's traditional bastion Ganderbal is set for a
triangular fight with People's Democratic Party, National Conference and an
Independent contesting the polls after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah decided not
to contest from the constituency which goes to polls on November 25.

The
electoral battle in Ganderbal is now a triangular contest between PDP's Qazi
Muhammad Afzal, NC's Sheikh Ishfaq Jabbar and Sheikh Ghulam Ahmad Saloori, who
is contesting as an Independent.Qazi is hopeful of riding on "PDP
wave" that he believes is sweeping the Valley where the party is confident
of better prospects than the last state polls."I am 100 per cent convinced
that people want change. I am also sure of my win as people hate NC for its
failure to keep its promises of development and employment," he said.

"People
have made up their minds to defeat NC and this mood was gauged by Omar and
hence he decided not to contest from here," he added.Though Qazi is seen
as the front-runner, Saloori's entry into the fray has made the electoral
battle interesting as there are many pockets in the Assembly segment where he
enjoys formidable support.

On
December 23, the verdict day, it would be clear whether National Conference
dented by a series of jolts, is able to retain the constituency or will its
boat sink from what was once known as its home turf.Omar's grandfather and the
NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah joined mainstream politics and fought
elections from Ganderbal in 1975, when the then sitting Congress MLA from the
constituency Mohammad Maqbool Bhat vacated the seat for him.

Abdullah
won the by-elections, became the chief minister of the state and thus started
the family's relation with the constituency.Two years later, at the end of his
tenure in 1977, Sheikh again chose Ganderbal to contest the polls and won.After
Sheikh's death, his son and Omar's father Farooq Abdullah fought the polls from
Ganderbal in 1983, 1987 and 1996, and won them each time.After Omar took over
the reins of the party and decided to enter state politics, he, too, chose
Ganderbal to mark his debut.However, he lost the elections to PDP's Qazi
Muhammad Afzal in 2002, a defeat avenged by him in 2008 by defeating Qazi from
Ganderbal to become the chief minister of the state.

This time
Omar is contesting from Beerwah.For the first time since 1975 when National
Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah won the election from Ganderbal,
the electorate of Ganderbal will not have an option of voting for an Abdullah
as a candidate.The party first received a major jolt when its senior leader and
Farooq's trusted lieutenant, Sheikh Ghulam Ahmad Saloori, decided to part ways
from it.After Saloori, it was another long-time NC leader Mohammad Yousuf
Bhat’s turn to dessert the party. Bhat, a key witness to the custodial death of
NC worker Haji Mohammad Yousuf in 2011, left the party and will fight the polls
on Congress ticket.

The
National Conference gave mandate to the former Congress leader Ishfaq but there
was strong resentment among the party workers especially among the middle and
lower rung cadre who have started keeping a distance from it.The party was hit
when a youth leader from the area Farooq Ahmad Dar, alias Farooq Ganderbali
moved out of the NC and joined PDP.A day after he parted ways from the party,
the NC received another shock when its MLC and ex-chief secretary of the state,
Sheikh Ghulam Rasool quit the party and later joined PDP.As the battle-lines
are drawn between various parties, a new fault line seems to have appeared in
Ganderbal -- Lar versus rest of the constituency.

While
Qazi and Ishfaq are from the Lar region, three other candidates in fray
--Mohammad Yousuf Bhat (Congress), Abdul Majeed Dhobi (Peoples Conference) and
Ali Mohammad Baba (Panthers Party), also belong to the same area.Ganderbal
along with 14 other constituencies is going to polls in the first phase of the
five-phased Assembly elections beginning November 25.

6) US
presidential medal for Indian-American scientist:

United
States President Barack Obama has felicitated Indian-American scientist Thomas
Kailath with the top presidential medal for transformative contributions to the
fields of science and technology.Kailath, 79, received the National Medal of
Science at a White House function on Thursday.

"Thomas
Kailath came to this country from India at the age of 22, with a research
assistantship that took him to MIT, and then Stanford, where he made critical
contributions in information theory and statistics, and mentored more than 100
scholars along the way," Obama said.Kailath received the award for
transformative contributions to the fields of information and system science,
distinctive and sustained mentoring of young scholars and translation of
scientific ideas into entrepreneurial ventures that have had a significant
impact on industry.Awarded annually, the medal recognises individuals who have
made outstanding contributions to science and engineering.Born in 1935 to a
Malayalam-speaking Syrian Christian family who hailed from Kerala, Kailath has
authored several books including well-known Linear Systems.

After
graduating from the University of Pune in 1956, Kailath received his Master's
degree and his doctorate degree in 1961, both from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.He was the first India-born student to receive a doctorate in
electrical engineering from MIT.

Kailath
joined Stanford University as Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering in
1963 and was promoted to Professor in 1968, and was appointed the first holder
of the

Hitachi
America Professorship in 1988.He is also known for his contributions to the
information and system sciences.He was conferred with the Padma Bhushan award
in 2009 by the Indian government for his contribution to science and
engineering.

7)
Coalgate: Court rejects CBI closure report, directs further probe:

A special
court on Thursday refused to accept a closure report by the Central Bureau of
Investigation and directed it to further investigate an alleged scam in coal
blocks allocation, involving Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, saying he had
misrepresented facts in letters written to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Special
CBI Judge Bharat Parashar asked the CBI to file a progress report of its probe
on December 19.Darda had misrepresented facts in various letters written to the
then PM, who was holding the Coal Ministry portfolio, seeking his
"help" to get allotment of Fatehpur (East) coal block in Chhattisgarh
in favour of JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd, the court said.Declining to accept
CBI's closure report filed in a case in which it had lodged an FIR against
Darda, who was also a director of JLD firm, and others, the court said that
"prima facie" offence of cheating was committed by private parties in
furtherance of conspiracy hatched between them and the public servants."As
regard Vijay Darda who was chairman of Lokmat Group, it has come on record that
he wrote a number of letters to the prime minister seeking allotment of
Fatehpur (East) coal block in favour of M/s JLD," the court said.

Darda at
that time was a sitting member of Rajya Sabha and he too had specifically
claimed in his letter dated June 18, 2007 and August 6, 2007 addressed to the
then prime minister that M/s JLD was promoted, managed and controlled by Lokmat
Group and IDFC."Thus once again there was a clear misrepresentation at
different forums by Vijay Darda on behalf of M/s JLD to claim allotment of yet
another coal block," the court said in its 41-page order.Regarding the
alleged roles of public servants, the court said "prima facie" it was
evident that the ministry of coal and screening committee were "inclined
to allot the impugned coal block at Fatehpur (East) to M/s JLD at all
costs".

"Thus
in these circumstances, the decision makers who were having dominion over the
nationalized natural resources of the country i.e coal blocks, have to take
responsibility of the consequences," it said Accordingly, the conclusion
drawn by the investigating agency to close the case "cannot be
accepted" the judge said.CBI had filed closure report in the case in which
FIR was lodged against JLD Yavatmal Energy Ltd, its directors Vijay Darda, his
son Devendra Darda, Rajendra Darda, Manoj Jayaswal, Anand Jayaswal and Abhishek
Jayaswal and other unknown persons.

The FIR
was registered against them under sections 420 (cheating) and 120 B (criminal
conspiracy) of the IPC.The court, in its order, said, "At the same time
the ministry of coal officers and screening committee have prima facie
committed offences of criminal breach of trust and of criminal misconduct i.e
under section 409 IPC and section 13 (1)(c) and 13(1)(d)(iii) PC Act in
furtherance of the criminal conspiracy i.e under section 120-B IPC entered into
by them with the private parties involved".

Regarding
Vijay Darda's letters to the then PM, the court noted that when application of
JLD for allotment of coal block was being considered by screening committee, he
wrote letters seeking PM's "intervention" in getting the
allotment."However, what is important to note is that even in his
communications made to the PM, Vijay Darda claimed M/s JLD to be a company
promoted, managed and controlled by Lokmat Group and IDFC. A specific averment
to this effect was made in the letter dated June 18, 2007.

"Clearly
Vijay Darda knew that the aforesaid claim was false. A similar representation
was made in yet one another letter dated August 6, 2007 also. Thus, Vijay Darda
actively participated in misrepresenting that M/s JLD was a company promoted,
managed and controlled by Lokmat Group and IDFC," it said.The court also
said JLD's claim in its application seeking allocation of coal block that it
was jointly established by Lokmat Group and IDFC was "clearly false"
and there was no agreement in existence which authorised JLD to mention the
net-worth of IDFC in the application form.It also observed there was
"clear misrepresentation" on the part of JLD in not disclosing about
earlier coal blocks allotted to its group or associated companies

Honduras
beauty queen shot dead by sister's jealous boyfriend:

Miss
Honduras 2014 was supposed to fly to London on Wednesday to compete in the Miss
World pageant. Instead, she and her sister were found dead near the spa where
they disappeared six days ago.According to the Honduras police, bodies believed
to be of beauty queen 19-year-old Maria Jose Alvarado and her 23-year-old
sister, Sofia, were discovered on Wednesday buried near the spa where they
disappeared a week earlier while celebrating the boyfriend’s birthday.The
police added that on they suspect that on the night of November 13, a heated
argument broke out and the boyfriend, identified as Plutarco Ruiz, pulled a
gun, firing first at his girlfriend and then at Alvarado as she tried to flee.
Alvarado was hit twice in the back.

Their
bodies were discovered early Wednesday after Ruiz led investigators to the
remote gravesite where he and an alleged accomplice buried them in a
mountainous area of Santa Barbara, about 400 kilometres west of the Honduran
capital, Tegucigalpa. The accomplice, Aris Maldonado, was also in police
custody and authorities were searching for other suspects.Chief detective
Leandro Osorio said Ruiz had shot and killed the elder sister in a fit of
jealousy after seeing her dancing with “another person or something similar”,
then shot Alvarado and buried the bodies. “This is the main hypothesis we have
for this crime, based on the witnesses and investigations we’ve done,” he said.

US
snowstorm: Things are going to get worse:

Things
are bound to get worse in New York state which is under the grip of a massive
snow storm. According to the Independent, another wave of stormy weather is
forecast to sweep across the city of Buffalo in New York state, bringing the
total snowfall this week up to levels normally expected over an entire year.
The new fall will undermine the efforts of many who started digging out of
their homes, and another three feet (1 metre) of snow is forecast.

On top of
the 5.5 feet (1.68 metres) already there in some places, it could become the
heaviest 24-hour snowfall on record in the mainland, beating the 75.8 inches
(192 centimeters), which fell at Silver Lake, Colorado, in 1921. The death toll
from a rare pre-winter snowstorm has risen to 10.

The US is
currently in the grip of a particularly cold period of weather, that has seen
temperatures dip below freezing in all 50 states -- even Hawaii.

Sports News
This Week:

1) A win
by 2-goal margin was enough to send Chennaiyin FC atop the ISL table

Stiven Mendoza
was aiming for just that, with Elano limping off in the 10 minute the Colombian
created some great chances for the home team.

Young
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth continued his rampaging run in Kowloon and set
up a semifinal clash with top seed Chinese Chen Long even as Saina Nehwal
suffered a stunning loss in the women’s singles quarterfinals at the Hong Kong
Super Series, here today.After India’s campaign in the women’s singles came to
an end following Saina’s shocking loss to Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the
quarterfinals, Srikanth brought back cheers to the home camp with a 21-14-21-15
win over Hong Kong’s Wei Nan in the men’s singles event.Newly-crowned China Open
champion, Saina, seeded third, went down 15-21 19-21 to World No. 9 Ying in
just 39 minutes.

However,
Srikanth, who had become the first Indian to win a Super Series Premier event
at Fuzhou last week, had no difficulty in seeing off World No. 21 Wei in a
36-minute quarterfinal match.Srikanth held a 10-6 lead early in the opening
game but Wei caught up with him with a four-point burst. However, all credit to
the Indian that he didn’t allow his rival to come near him after that and
closed the game in her favour.

In the
second game too, Srikanth surged ahead at 8-3 and held his fort as Wei
crumbled.In the women’s singles quarterfinals, Saina, who held a 5-2 edge over
Ying ahead of the match, could not find a way thorough her Taipei rival’s
compact game.Last time the two met, the Indian had defeated Ying in the
semifinals of Swiss Open in 2013 but the World No. 4 Saina looked pretty rusty
today.The girl from Hyderabad was a pale shadow of herself in the opening game
before she fought back in the second, but failed to make it to the next
round.Breaking away from a 2-2 tie in the first game, there was no looking back
for the Taipei girl. She just kept on extending the lead, even as Saina played
the catch-up game.Although Saina tried her best, she always trailed behind
Ying, seeded sixth. By the end of the opening round, the Taipei girl had surged
ahead wrapping it up 21-15.

The
Olympic bronze medallist, however, pulled up her socks in the second game and
came up with a much-improved show.It turned out to be a closely fought affair
as the game tilted from one end to another and the two shuttlers were tied at
19-19. But the World No. 9 Ying came up with two consecutive winners just when
it mattered most to seal the issue in her favour, thereby making it to the semifinals.

3) Federer
set to face France in Davis Cup final:

Switzerland's
Roger Federer, who has been hampered by back problems, has been named to play
in the second singles rubber of the Davis Cup final against France's Gael
Monfils on Friday.The 17-time grand slam champion, looking to give the Swiss a
maiden title in the team competition, withdrew from the ATP World Tour final
against Novak Djokovic in London last Sunday.But the world number two was back
in training on Thursday at Lille's Pierre Mauroy stadium, where the tie will be
played indoors on clay in front of some 27,000 fans."Things have been
going well out there this morning. I was really happy with the way I
felt," Federer, who made his decision to play after Thursday's early
practice session, told a news conference following the draw ceremony.

Asked if
he was 100 percent fit, Federer said: "Only the match gives you the
answer. I'm just pleased that I can play tomorrow, give it a go. Things have
been going well."

Federer's
inclusion did not surprise the French."It is not a surprise for us, we
prepared ourselves to play against Roger and Stan," said France captain
Arnaud Clement.

"He's
had three days to rest and before that he played his best tennis (in London) so
it's all good for him," said Monfils, who lost to Federer in five sets in
the U.S. Open quarter-finals in September and has never beaten him in five
matches on clay.

4) For
Mary Kom, road to Rio is littered with hurdles:

Mary Kom
looks back at 2014 fondly. She’s been omnipresent — be it inside the ring by
winning the Asian Games gold or outside it promoting a biopic on her life.

However,
as she begins her preparation for the Rio Olympics, Mary has been advised to
train judiciously and focus on recovering from the niggling injuries. Mary
knows, and expects, the road to Rio to be littered with hurdles.

At 31,
she realises age is not on her side and the rapidly evolving women’s boxing
circuit will only add to her challenge. “The level of competition has become
much higher now than what it was. Even small countries like Myanmar produce
tough boxers,” she said.

Even back
home, Mary is facing a stiff challenge, as was evident during the Commonwealth
Games trials. Pinki Jhangra, who qualified for Glasgow at her expense, has
turned out to be a strong contender in Mary’s weight category and will be the
main challenger once again for Rio. Yet, the bulk of her preparation for the
quadrennial event will be based on fitness. Even at the Asian Games, Mary
suffered a hamstring injury. That coupled with a lower back trouble that has
been bothering her since the birth of her third child last year has affected
her training.

She had
to pull out of the ongoing World Championships to focus on rehabilitation.
Daily training is still a continuing process, she says, but only in lighter
form. “I have to make sure I’m in touch with the game at all times,” Mary
added.She has been advised against heavy and full-scale training because of the
nature of her injuries. However, her physio Nikhil Latey is bullish about her
return. “If she wants, she can begin proper training immediately and be
prepared for a tournament in a week. So it is not that the injuries are
overbearing,” said Latey, who works with the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ).

Keeping
her age in mind, Latey has expressed a need for the pugilist to train
judiciously and pick and choose tournaments carefully. “At this point, it’s
preferred that she trains ahead of specific competitions instead of working hard
the whole year round,” he said.Mary is likely to take part only in a couple of
international meets next year. Her main focus will be on the 2016 World
Championships, which will also double up as an Olympic qualification event.
Should she fail at the worlds, she can attempt to qualify by winning the gold
at the Asian Championships. The 2012 Games bronze medallist says she is
determined to battle the odds for the Rio Games, as it will most likely be her
last Olympics.

5) Michael
Schumacher paralysed with memory, speech problems: Friend:

Close to
two years since his horrific fall during a ski trip to the Alps, Michael
Schumacher is paralysed and has problems with his memory and speech, revealed a
close friend of F1 legend.“He is getting better but everything is relative,”
former Formula 1 driver Philippe Streiff was quoted as saying by The
Independent. “It’s very difficult. He can’t speak,” said the Frenchman, who is
a close friend of Schumacher.

“Like me
he is in a wheelchair, paralysed. He has memory problems and speech problems,”
said Streiff who had suffered a crash during pre-season testing at Rio de
Janeiro’s Jacarepagua circuit ahead of the 1989 campaign and is now in a
wheelchair.Schumacher was moved to his family home near Lake Geneva in Switzerland
in September last year as he continues his recovery from the brain injury he
suffered in the fall in December 2013. The newspaper quoted a spokesman for
Schumacher saying Streiff’s claims were “his opinion”, and no medical update on
Schumacher’s condition is expected given his manager Sabine Kehm’s recent
comments that it could be some time before the next one is issued. One of the
doctors who treated the seven-time world champion after the skiing accident
said it could take years for him to recover from his injuries.

“I have
noticed some progress but I would say we will have to give him time,”
Jean-Francois Payen said. “It is like for other patients. We are in a time
scale of one to three years, so you need patience,” newspaper quoted him as
saying.

Earlier
this month Schumacher’s official website was re-launched to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of his first world championship title in 1994. During the occasion
Schumacher’s family thanked the fans for their support and reiterated they were
confident of his recovery.

6) 10th
game between Anand and Carlsen ends in draw:

Anand
surprised Carlsen in the opening, but possibly missed a big opportunity by not
playing 16.d6. Anand's position was still somewhat superior, however he made
couple of passive moves giving up the initiative. Magnus was able to exchange
queens and equalize. The game ended in a DRAW. Review all WCC games here

Book of
This Week:

The
Election That Changed India 2014 by
Rajdeep Sardesai (Author)

The 2014
Indian general elections has been regarded as the most important elections in
Indian history since 1977. It saw the decimation of the ruling Congress party,
a spectacular victory for the BJP and a new style of campaigning that broke
every rule in the political game. But how and why?

In his
riveting book, Rajdeep Sardesai tracks the story of this pivotal elections
through all the key players and the big news stories. Beginning with 2012, when
Narendra Modi won the state elections in Gujarat for a third time but set his
sights on a bigger prize, to the scandals that crippled Manmohan Singh and UPA
2 and moving to the back-room strategies of Team Modi, the extraordinary
missteps of Rahul Gandhi and the political dramas of an election year, he draws
a panoramic picture of the year that changed India. Page-turning, full of
insights and great portraits, and written with a media insider's eye, 2014 is
political storytelling at its absolute best.

Rajdeep
Sardesai:

Rajdeep
Sardesai is an Indian news presenter and author. Sardesai is currently a
consulting editor at the India today group and will be doing a marquee show for
Headlines Today.

Education:
University College, Oxford, St. Xavier's College-Autonomous, Mumbai, University
of Oxford.